Shift4 Decries ‘Junk Fees’ Levied by Rival Restaurant Processors

Shift4 Payments Inc. said early Thursday it will pay restaurants a dollar for every online order they receive across the first three months that they use the company’s SkyTab POS system.

Shift4 contends it is making the move in response to what it calls junk fees charged by other payment processors, including additional charges for accepting online orders. Toast Inc., for example, began levying a fee on restaurants for processing online orders over $10 last month. Last week, the company backed off on charging the fee in the face of adverse reactions from clients.

Shift4 argues the junk fees are a way for competitors to find new revenue streams, which in turn raises merchants’ cost of doing business.

In addition, Shift4 announced plans to pay a $5,000 signing bonus for new customers in the hopes of wresting merchants away from competitors and attracting new business in general. Restaurant POS is a highly competitive market that has attracted such heavyweight payments providers as Fiserv Inc., SpotOn Transact LLC, and Oracle Corp.

“When our competitors began implementing junk fees for online ordering and threatening even more fees, we knew it was an opportunity to show restaurateurs there was a much better alternative,” Shift4 chief executive Jared Isaacman says in a statement. “This is really about trust. Clearly some of our competitors are looking for new revenue streams and they are getting creative and aggressive with their billing tactics.”

Isaacman notes that Shift4 does not charge for hardware, loyalty programs, or for processing online orders. “We don’t take our customers for granted and certainly don’t subscribe to imposing fees that create friction between them and their patrons,” he adds.

Shift4’s SkyTab is a restaurant POS system that supports mobile and contactless payments, reservations and waitlists, marketing and loyalty programs, online ordering, eGift cards, and more. Merchants pay a monthly fee starting at $29.99. The fee includes hardware software, full-time support, and local service. 

Shift4 says it provides payments systems to more than a third of the table-service restaurants and hotels in the United States. The Allentown, Pa.-based processor has also built a strong presence in theme parks and stadiums.